and...there is no forum thread on the general uk beek keeping forum to give this link...i just got called a troll and spammer for having made only to date 7 posts there and mentioned that even READING any topic on pesticides on that forum is blocked to anyone who has not posted 20 posts on the forum...you cannot evfen READ anything discussed there in secret and certainly no links to any petitions. seems the bee world funded by bayer is it is gagged due to having them sell bee keepers chemicals etc to treat bee diseases with that do not seem to have had any effect other than declining even sicker bees everywhere ! or am i like the little boy not seeing the emperor's clothes ? obviously yes. keep paying for sick bees and expensive things for your hobbies hey. someone has to invent things to sell to people to earn a living ! cigarettes even !

I would echo the importance of emailing your mp direct. Our local MP (before the election) did a session for our local transition group about how to influence your mp and get them to work for you.

One of the things he said was that an individual email makes far more difference than 1,000 signatures on a 38degrees/change.org etc petition.

So write to your MP whatever colour they are. Also sign the one that will get a debate in parliament. It is just over 49.5K at the moment so should be up to the 100K for a debate in less than a weeks time if we all work at it!

For the record, I have signed petitions on this with 38degrees, 350.org, sumofus.org and change.org and I think a Greenpeace one as well.

I would echo the importance of emailing your mp direct. Our local MP (before the election) did a session for our local transition group about how to influence your mp and get them to work for you.

One of the things he said was that an individual email makes far more difference than 1,000 signatures on a 38degrees/change.org etc petition.

So write to your MP whatever colour they are. Also sign the one that will get a debate in parliament. It is just over 49.5K at the moment so should be up to the 100K for a debate in less than a weeks time if we all work at it!

For the record, I have signed petitions on this with 38degrees, 350.org, sumofus.org and change.org and I think a Greenpeace one as well.

i too signed quite a few and emailed local politicians...i have to add...not being a frequent emailer of politicians only a few this year after decades of none...i emailed them on the subject here of pesticides on our food and ukip over publicity negatively affecting image of people and incorrect views of people that pay net 8 billion per year in taxes to the uk alone...

now i have to inform that i received NO EMAIL ACKNOWLEDGEMENT even of my email sent on this subject...

obviously like in the days of tobacco being said not dangerous to our health the payments of the big companies dictate even what email acknowledgements are sent out.

still. as i wrote on my facebook, it is easier to whip up opposition to things when guns are in your face, but when quietly poisoned slowely over years it is easier to hide the truths. a bit like asbestos cover ups hey ! by the time people are in homes demented having lived next to fields of pesticides they cannot object and it is too late for them ! jaja one of my friends has like many of us an uncle who is demented who was alone to live next to fields of that familly...and it is reported by scientists the effects on us breathing these pesticldes on fields is bad...i got skin rashes last year from lying in grass on a farmer field that had been sprayed with some white plastic type things ! and my dogs stomache ulcers from eating grass on that land ! but we are told all that is nothing to do with treatment of land...nor is the fact snails even are a protected species now in France as the pesticides have killed them off ! let alone bees. never saw a snail on that land i got skin burnt on either thinking about it !

oh well enough of my thoughts. but they are now out in public.

I just emailed urgently the kids that inherit my land in LT who keep bees out there..the EU is FUNDING EASTERN EUROPE FOR BEE KEEPERS TO BUY CHEMICALS TO TREAT BEE DISEASES WITH ! so i said DO NOT DO IT ON OUR BEES ! jaja..message sent...last year the lady REFUSED to do it in fact she said I knew nothing and was suspicous of all government pushed things like that ...well time we all realised it is not just communists that are dictators hey ! big companies are the real decision makers in our countries today not our paid by them politicians etc !

now i have to inform that i received NO EMAIL ACKNOWLEDGEMENT even of my email sent on this subject..

catchercradle wrote:

Previous MP I always got a reply, even on things he disagreed with me on. Current one so far I just have an autoreply promising a real answer when my email gets to the top of the queue.

I still have the same MP (Conservative). He always acknowledges receipt of an e-mail (auto-reply) and answers it (sometimes a few a week, he works for me!). The answer is usually just the party-line that I could find in any number of places on the internet, but at least he is being made aware of opinions other than that of the government!

It's quite gratifying that he remembered my name on only our second meeting. I feel that I am at least being listened to.

Such petitions make no difference in the end. Sorry, but that's the truth of it. They make make the petitioners feel better, but that is the limit of their success.

In short, making appeals, within current systemic constraints, to the architects of that system are utterly pointless.

The problem is systemic and the solution will be systemic. That is to say, the system of globalised, predatory, corporate capitalism that underlies these issues must be overturned. How that is achieved or, even, if it is possible is another issue. The primary issue is simply recognising that this must occur in the first place for any kind of real change to be effected.

Sorry to get political on this. But, I felt it simply had to be said baldly. I wont contribute to this particular thread further.

....The problem is systemic and the solution will be systemic. That is to say, the system of globalised, predatory, corporate capitalism that underlies these issues must be overturned....

Have to agree but there are (at least) two ways of achieving that.
1. Revolution - against the owners of the wealth and power. The very fact of them having the wealth and power suggests they will succeed.
2. Evolution - slowly eroding their power by persuading those in authority to gradually change the way they do things.

I see at least forcing a renewed debate on topics such as this as a part of the latter.

To make the former succeed you first need to turn the military and Police or face a bloody battle. Maggie's idea of giving Police a big pay rise before taking on the miners worked to keep them on-side and can be repeated.

Conserving wild bees

Research suggests that bumble bee boxes have a very low success rate in actually attracting bees into them. We find that if you create an environment where first of all you can attract mice inside, such as a pile of stones, a drystone wall, paving slabs with intentionally made cavities underneath, this will increase the success rate.

Most bumble bee species need a dry space about the size a football, with a narrow entrance tunnel approximately 2cm in diameter and 20 cm long. Most species nest underground along the base of a linear feature such as a hedge or wall. Sites need to be sheltered and out of direct sunlight.